Dr. Erach Bharucha has worn many hats in his long life — surgeon, teacher, photographer, institution-builder, and conservationist. Yet the thread running through all of them is simple: an unwavering love for the natural world. For decades, he has shaped how India sees its environment, not from podiums or grand speeches, but through steady, practical work — teaching generations of students, protecting wildlife, and embedding environmental education into the country’s very curriculum.

“I think you should introduce me as being a surgeon and a biodiversity conservation individual,” he says modestly. “I’ve worked for wildlife and nature for most of my life. And I’ve done both as professions, as well as out of deep interest — my love for surgery and my love for nature.”

It is this quiet duality — medicine and conservation — that makes him unique. While many know him as the author of Environmental Studies for Undergraduate Courses, the textbook that millions of Indian students have read, fewer know of the lifelong passion that drove it: a boy in Pune whose parents loved nature, a student whose teachers encouraged him to look closely, and a young man who found his greatest mentor in ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali.

“I used to go around with him on his motorcycle,” Dr. Bharucha recalls. “The fun of it was the motorcycle, of course, but that’s when I truly learned birdwatching and how to look deeper into nature. Very early, I realized I didn’t just want to look at nature — I wanted to look much deeper into it. And that grew as I grew.”

Witness to India’s Changing Wild

Through his lifetime, he has seen India’s forests and wildlife change in ways that are both heartening and heartbreaking. “Outside natural parks and sanctuaries, the forests have depleted very rapidly,” he explains. “They’ve become fragmented, degraded, and they have no corridors between them. Wildlife populations then get isolated into smaller and smaller pockets. That is a very sad story.”

But he is also quick to point out progress. “Within our national parks, which have been well looked after, there has been something to gain. The Forest Department has learned the science behind conservation, and there are trained conservationists and research scientists guiding management much better than in the past.”

His conclusion is straightforward: “This has to become a public movement. Unless it goes right down to villages, into urban areas, into mining sites where forests must be re-established, conservation will not succeed.”

The Textbook That Shaped a Generation

Perhaps the single most public aspect of his work is the textbook on environmental studies. Dr. Bharucha, however, resists taking credit. “Actually, it wasn’t me that made this textbook happen,” he insists. “The Supreme Court said that everybody in the country must learn about environmental education. The UGC put me on a committee and I was asked to make the first textbook. So it wasn’t me — it was M.C. Mehta, the lawyer, who made this happen. Incredible, the way he got the government to implement environmental education as part of curriculum.”

Even so, the impact is undeniable. Now in its fourth edition, the book remains India’s most widely circulated text on the environment, ensuring that every undergraduate encounters the basics of ecology, biodiversity, and sustainability.

Stories of Species: Victories and Warnings

When asked about wildlife, his voice comes alive with stories of loss and resilience. “There were depleting populations of tiger, for example, in the 1970s. It was 1,800. Today it is 3,000. Now this is a huge victory, not just for India but at a global scale.”

He is just as proud of the slow return of vultures, once nearly wiped out by veterinary drugs. “They’re making a slow comeback,” he explains, “and we have been able to breed them in captivity so that if a crash in the population occurs again, we have some birds to release.”

But the great Indian bustard remains a warning. “Grasslands are the most damaged ecosystems, much more so than forests,” he says. “The bustard used to live in hundreds. In Maharashtra it is zero now. We’ve managed to breed them in captivity — they breed like chickens — but we don’t have grasslands to release them into. That is the tragedy.”

Passion and Purpose

If there is one word that defines Dr. Bharucha, it is passion. “I’m passionately fond of nature. I’m passionately fond of wildlife. And I believe it is very important for keeping humanity safe.”

That passion extends to his students. At Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research, which he founded, he has designed master’s programs in environment, geoinformatics, and wildlife conservation. But he reminds them that knowledge is not enough. “It’s about internalizing and appreciating what you’re doing,” he says. “Students can reduce water use, manage household waste, use public transport. But most importantly, they must take the message forward. Sustainable youth movements are crucial for our future.”

A Message for Tomorrow

Asked what he would like to leave behind for the next generation, he doesn’t cite a policy or a plan. Instead, he offers something simple: “Exposure to the wilderness. Repeated exposure to the wilderness. That doesn’t mean only going to a national park. It could be a little patch of forest, a stream, a riverbank. Across the country there are tiny hotspots of diversity. Going there repeatedly, observing what nature has to teach you — that is the best way. It’s called experiential learning.”

At 83, he still speaks with the energy of a student, not a veteran. He has built institutions, guided conservation policy, trained young scientists, and shaped the environmental consciousness of a nation. Yet he remains understated, preferring to be known simply as a surgeon and a conservationist.

In truth, he is far more. Dr. Erach Bharucha is the quiet force who helped India learn to listen — not just to the roar of the tiger or the flight of the vulture, but to the subtle, steady voice of nature itself.